Dear Friends, Family, Followers and Other thing that start with F—
Well it’s hard to believe (anything that comes out of any capitol anywhere) that another holiday season has rolled around and therefore another holiday letter is being sent out over the cyber web and on paper. If you are reading this electronically feel good about yourself because you have reduced your carbon footprint. Quit eating so many beans reducing your emissions and you stand a real good chance of becoming carbon neutral next year whatever that means. Now before we review what has been a fairly meaningful year it seems appropriate to acknowledge what follows may irritate the ACLU, the KKK, the NRA, and the PTA so WTH. If that alphabet soup doesn’t make sense well I guess this whole letter is a SNAFU and I’m SOL PDQ —oh well LOL.
Now here we go....
Early in 2021 we had a houseful of people under the roof and a chicken. As the year moved forward we have reduced the number of people yet we still have the chicken. Breanna has taken her job skills to T.j. Max and met a good guy named Cal. They have moved from the Port to Michigan’s capital city and thus the IQ there has risen slightly—but not quite enough to impact state government much. Breanna turned 21 this spring and has learned to be a pretty good mixologist... (you know makes her own creative drinks)...
Jon met a very fine woman (I haven’t asked for permission to mention her name so...) and survived Big Lots just as long as he could before getting a full-time gig with a local produce company. His adulting is going well.
The COVID thing hasn’t landed in our house except for Amanda and her Hubby... but that was last year now. We aren’t reporting our vaccination statuses because we don’t want the variants to know who to attack and how. All types of authorities and others seem to keep insist on us wearing masks and in my case they are saying “cover up as much of your face as possible as it makes people sick.” I don’t know the science behind that claim but so far no twitter groups or facebook pages are disputing it.
We’ve done a bunch of traveling to Iowa this year to see family and friends and Mel is most certainly welcome back at any time. Our family in Iowa is hanging. In there and they all send you best wishes.
Amanda and Caleb took a trip to North Dakota to see how. To drill a hole in ice and stare at it for hours...I guess some people call that ice fishing but the only time I want to see that much ice it better be surrounded by margarita mix and tequila. Oh and Amanda made a “Vegas” and other sites nearby trip ....but the biggest trip of all this year was not a train ride or an airplane. Flight. It was a little walk in a barn yard....otherwise called the wedding of Caleb dean and Amanda Whalen. The happy couple was married on September 25th. A few brain cells died that weekend but otherwise both families and so many of their fantastic friends gathered to celebrate. Amanda and Caleb continue to be moving. Ahead in great careers however they will eventually put all that in their own holiday letters...they are grown ups now.
Well I can see by the “Word Count” I’ve written over 500 words already and that’s about all the words I know so let’s wrap this up shall we? We hope this letter and this whole year has provided a few. Bits of news and a smile or two. We hope no one takes offense at anything we’ve said or done. With this letter or in real life, however it seems that someone can find a way to take a offense or be a victim for almost everything so... here’s a little rhyme to end this...
Be your life now a boom or a bust
Though. A look. In the mirror bring a grin or disgust
May you dig deep inside and summon some trust
And forgiveness for others for that is a must
Find love for your neighbor for things dismiss lust
Point out and change things that remain real unjust
Know that hate, fear, and greed all turn ugly like rust
Work hard to share peace before returning to dust
Try to bring comfort to those who are disturbed and when needed disturb those who have grown far too comfortable—be blessed
The Whalens’
